Craig, the internal sounds of the G70 are not bad at all. I like them and I play my G70 every day. Therefor I expect the E80 to be a very good instrument as well.
It is just an opinion.

THe E80 was at Blackpool http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum37/HTML/013261.html if you read through you will see how it compared to other keyboards.

Bill

Abacus.....thanx for the link to a great review of the show.....I was dissapointed in hearing the reviews of the E80....I wiash they would have a show like that here in the states also>

You've got to remember that the Blackpool review was one person's opinion (and reading between the lines he seems to be something of a theater organ fan, but I may be mistaken.... He's definitely a PA1X fan).

The main thrust of opinion between Roland and Yamaha's 'sound' is that most people compare the Roland to a 'live band' sound and dynamic, and Yamaha gets the nod for polished 'CD-like' sound. It just depends on what you are trying to sound like.

Most of my playing career has been in live bands, so when I use an arranger, I am mostly looking for something that makes me feel I still have a live drummer behind me, rather than playing along with a CD. But that's just me...... Everyone has their own needs and expectations.

My REAL hope for the E80 is that Roland take the time and money to correct the well publicized shortcomings in the OTS implementation, pack it full of newer, hipper styles (the REAL reason it doesn't compare too well with the Tyros2), get the database manager sorted out quickly, and then port all these improvements over to the G70!

I certainly am never going to buy a 61 note keyboard that's even heavier that a 76 note one, (and more expensive) even if I could stand playing short keyboards.